I had bought some ground beef and brought it in with some other groceries. But, instead of putting it in the refrigerator, I left it in a bag at room temperature for several hours. At some point, and this isn’t the first time for various things that need refrigeration, I make a mental note that “I don’t recall putting that item in the fridge.” At which point, I go to the refrigerator, look in, and often see that I’ve not put the item in the cold environment. Now, I haven’t read on how people can “air cure” a steak by leaving it out of refrigeration without it getting moldy, or spoiled.

So, I had some lately refrigerated ground beef that I felt the need to cook. I put some of the ground beef in my large pot, with some chopped onion and bacon fat to start vegetable soup, and the rest I put in a smaller 3 Qt. pot with chopped onion to make spaghetti sauce.

Most of the ingredients that I put in vegetable soup require about “half a can.” I don’t need a whole can of diced, fire roasted tomatoes, or a whole can of green beans, or a whole can of corn. So, I tried the following: The previous batch of soup that I made, I put half a can of several veggies in that soup, and the other half I put in a Tupperware container (all mixed together) and then placed in the freezer. It didn’t make any sense, but I used a black marker and wrote on a sandwich bag the date and that this was Vegetable Soup Starter, and listed the veggies: carrots, corn, green beans, tomatoes, & okra. I put this reminder on top of the veggies, and placed the Tupperware lid on top. Not sure how I could have put the note on the outside of the container, but it did look neat, when I took the lid off. *I did also cut some fresh okra for this soup, and after the soup was almost done, I peeled and diced a potato. I like to add the potato at the end so that they do not get too “mushy.” I probably should also do this with the carrots, but they don’t seem to become as mushy with a longer cooking time. What else: Bay leaf, S&P, sweetener, Agave Nectar, thyme…

I’ve mentioned previously that after years of using the $1 a can spaghetti sauce starter from Del Monte or Hunts, that I tried the Rao’s starter and really liked the difference in flavor. And, I only use half a jar of the Rao’s and add half a can of diced, fire roasted tomatoes. Combining these two ingredients gives the sauce a nice texture. But, I also like to add sweet bell peppers (preferably not green which aren’t as sweet), some fennel seeds, dry basil & oregano, Bay leaves, S&P, red pepper flakes, sweetener and Agave Nectar.

The finished products are about 3 bowls of vegetable soup and 2 or 3 helpings of spaghetti sauce.